Demo Rivians Now for Sale

[onesoil]

tl;dr - If Rivian wants to succeed, I think they need to overhaul how they sell their vehicles! I'm a motivated buyer (purchasing for a business), with money lined up—it shouldn't be this hard to buy the dang thing It's one thing when demand is high and supply is short, but all things point to their circumstances having flipped to them being long on inventory at the moment, so transaction times should be fast right now. My experience has indicated this not to be the case so far.

• It's been 2 weeks since I reserved my demo R1T, and I still haven't been able to part with my money and get my vehicle en route.
• Every time I have engaged with my "inside sales guide," it has been a very friendly but typically somewhat disorganized and/or disappointing experience.
• I can't reach my sales guide directly, even though his emails provide a phone number. It just goes to a general mailbox that says I will be contacted within 1 business day. My guide claims he does get calls and voicemails on that general box, but sometimes days go by after emailing/attempting to call before he gets back to me.
• Rivian has gone from having a supply-short, demand-heavy sales environment to now being in the opposite scenario—they need to pivot to a more conventional sales team approach and adopt some of the conventional practices that successful sales departments teach/implement.
  • The customer is always right (even when they aren't).
  • Unless a customer specifically indicates that they would like you back off, frequent check-ins throughout the process are appreciated (whether to explain how the process is proceeding, or to answer any lingering questions).
  • Reachability/responsiveness is key: a direct line to call/text and prompt responsiveness should be mandatory for all salespeople. Nameless/faceless (the Tesla approach), is problematic for multiple reasons.
  • Rivian is selling cars—not widgets or phones. If I am buying a $70k+ item sight unseen, I should be able to talk to the same individual from start to finish.
  • With the opening of the demo shop, and presumably a used shop sometime in the future, Rivian should be able to put you in touch with a person who can actually put their hands on the vehicle you intend to purchase—whether that is to send detailed photos at your request, conduct a video walkthrough, or confirm any unit-specific questions a customer might have (just like any used car dealer should be able to do).
• A request to speak with someone's manager should be promptly made available. I requested to speak with my sales guide's manager (making it very clear that I wasn't upset with him, but I just wanted to ask someone who might be in a better position to answer my question). He informed me that it would be 2-3 days, and now 7 days later (and a few successive requests later), this still hasn't happened. Sales managers need to occasionally interact with their customers to better inform their management and structuring of their team!

Has anyone actually successfully purchased a demo vehicle one yet? I reserved mine on the night of 3/6 when I first learned about the page. At that point, the 4 R1S had been reserved, which was what I had been hoping to snag.

I snagged a FG/FE/20" Dark w/ powered tonneau because I have been going back and forth about R1T vs R1S for a while, and that was basically my ideal spec (everything but the RUS, even though I probably won't need it here in New England).

I was contacted the next day by the same Rivian "Fellow Adventurer" ("Sales" guy) named Luis who had been working with me to find the right spec R1S a few months ago. I already had a $1000 refundable deposit down for an R1S, but Luis had mostly gone silent after I turned down a few vehicles that didn't match my non-negotiables. He informed me that my $1000 deposit was non-transferrable, and that I had to place a new order within 24 hours for an R1T to lock the demo in, and they could cancel and refund my other order (for the R1S).

I asked Luis if I could see photos of the actual truck and to confirm whether or not it had a powered tonneau (the spec page didn't say, and he didn't know). He initially told me that he wouldn't be able to get photos and that I should look on the demo page. My truck had been taken down, which he eventually got re-added (as a "sold out" item). I also asked him if he knew of any green (LE or FG) on green R1Ss that would be added (or if he could find out), since that was my preference. He told me that he had no way of knowing and suggested I just refresh the page often. I refreshed the page a lot, and kept missing R1Ss (a few that met my ideal spec). I swear some of them popped up already "sold" because multiple vehicles would be "sold out" within minutes of page refreshes. This frustrated me, but I decided after the R2 release that this R1T would probably be a placeholder for a couple years, so I've mostly made peace with it.

As soon as I was able to see photos of the actual truck, I signed the demo vehicle document and placed the new order (they promptly refunded me for my first $1k deposit). He explained that they would then link this truck to my order, at which point the price would be a pre-march price, minus a discount for being a demo. After several days, the reservation page changed, but the price was over $10k more than it was supposed to be.

I contacted Luis, and he informed me that I had to delete this order (they would refund) and place another order (on 3/13). They had made some mistake with the discount and had applied it to a current MSRP instead of a pre-march one At this point, I politely requested that I be able to speak with a sales manager/supervisor equivalent (or whatever title that would be in Rivianese ). I wanted to ask someone more likely to know why they can't find me an R1S demo vehicle when clearly more and more of them are trickling into the demo shop as the weeks go by, some of which had my ideal specs. I also wanted to review the hiccups of this purchase experience with someone whose job it is to lead a sales team—if I were a sales manager, I would want to hear about my experience thus far—especially since, at the outset, Luis made it clear that they are trying to get these sold before Q1-end. From what I can tell, there has been a lot of wasted time in this transaction, even with what seems to be the best of intentions on Luis' part.

I emailed Luis on Monday (3/18) because I hadn't heard from him after placing my third deposit, and the account portal page hadn't changed yet to indicate my match with the demo truck's VIN. He didn't respond. I called but didn't get through, so I decided to reserve a scheduled call in his calendar yesterday. Luis called promptly at the scheduled time, but with zero acknowledgment that 5 days had gone by since his last call wherein he indicated that I needed to act swiftly with my third deposit.

I'm motivated to buy this truck as soon as they will let me. I hope my experience is an exception, but I have my doubts unfortunately...

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[thuel]

My demo purchase process has gone pretty smoothly. However, I think I"m a pretty low-maintenance customer, just trusting the photos and vehicle details they've shared. You're buying a vehicle at a steep discount, so you just need to make that purchase based on the available information.

I purchased from their demo site on 3/11 and my truck pickup is scheduled for 3/30. It's been a pretty easy online process, but it's definitely a light touch from your "guide". However, I've been able to text with any needs and they usually get me an update or answer within a couple of hours. All-in-all, no complaints from me!

 

[ng9887]

tl;dr - If Rivian wants to succeed, I think they need to overhaul how they sell their vehicles! I'm a motivated buyer (purchasing for a business), with money lined up—it shouldn't be this hard to buy the dang thing

• It's been 2 weeks since I reserved my demo R1T, and I still haven't been able to part with my money and get my vehicle en route.
• Every time I have engaged with my "inside sales guide," it has been a very friendly but typically somewhat disorganized and/or disappointing experience.
• I can't reach my sales guide directly, even though his emails provide a phone number. It just goes to a general mailbox that says I will be contacted within 1 business day. My guide claims he does get calls and voicemails on that general box, but sometimes days go by after emailing/attempting to call before he gets back to me.
• Rivian has gone from having a supply-short, demand-heavy sales environment to now being in the opposite scenario—they need to pivot to a more conventional sales team approach and adopt some of the conventional practices that successful sales departments teach/implement.
  • The customer is always right (even when they aren't).
  • Unless a customer specifically indicates that they would like you back off, frequent check-ins throughout the process are appreciated (whether to explain how the process is proceeding, or to answer any lingering questions).
  • Reachability/responsiveness is key: a direct line to call/text and prompt responsiveness should be mandatory for all salespeople. Nameless/faceless (the Tesla approach), is problematic for multiple reasons.
  • Rivian is selling cars—not widgets or phones. If I am buying a $70k+ item sight unseen, I should be able to talk to the same individual from start to finish.
  • With the opening of the demo shop, and presumably a used shop sometime in the future, Rivian should be able to put you in touch with a person who can actually put their hands on the vehicle you intend to purchase—whether that is to send detailed photos at your request, conduct a video walkthrough, or confirm any unit-specific questions a customer might have (just like any used car dealer should be able to do).
• A request to speak with someone's manager should be promptly made available. I requested to speak with my sales guide's manager (making it very clear that I wasn't upset with him, but I just wanted to ask someone who might be in a better position to answer my question). He informed me that it would be 2-3 days, and now 7 days later (and a few successive requests later), this still hasn't happened. Sales managers need to occasionally interact with their customers to better inform their management and structuring of their team!

Has anyone actually successfully purchased a demo vehicle one yet? I reserved mine on the night of 3/6 when I first learned about the page. At that point, the 4 R1S had been reserved, which was what I had been hoping to snag.

I snagged a FG/FE/20" Dark w/ powered tonneau because I have been going back and forth about R1T vs R1S for a while, and that was basically my ideal spec (everything but the RUS, even though I probably won't need it here in New England).

I was contacted the next day by the same Rivian "Fellow Adventurer" ("Sales" guy) named Luis who had been working with me to find the right spec R1S a few months ago. I already had a $1000 refundable deposit down for an R1S, but Luis had mostly gone silent after I turned down a few vehicles that didn't match my non-negotiables. He informed me that my $1000 deposit was non-transferrable, and that I had to place a new order within 24 hours for an R1T to lock the demo in, and they could cancel and refund my other order (for the R1S).

I asked Luis if I could see photos of the actual truck and to confirm whether or not it had a powered tonneau (the spec page didn't say, and he didn't know). He initially told me that he wouldn't be able to get photos and that I should look on the demo page. My truck had been taken down, which he eventually got re-added (as a "sold out" item). I also asked him if he knew of any green (LE or FG) on green R1Ss that would be added (or if he could find out), since that was my preference. He told me that he had no way of knowing and suggested I just refresh the page often. I refreshed the page a lot, and kept missing R1Ss (a few that met my ideal spec). I swear some of them popped up already "sold" because multiple vehicles would be "sold out" within minutes of page refreshes. This frustrated me, but I decided after the R2 release that this R1T would probably be a placeholder for a couple years, so I've mostly made peace with it.

As soon as I was able to see photos of the actual truck, I signed the demo vehicle document and placed the new order (they promptly refunded me for my first $1k deposit). He explained that they would then link this truck to my order, at which point the price would be a pre-march price, minus a discount for being a demo. After several days, the reservation page changed, but the price was over $10k more than it was supposed to be.

I contacted Luis, and he informed me that I had to delete this order (they would refund) and place another order (on 3/13). They had made some mistake with the discount and had applied it to a current MSRP instead of a pre-march one At this point, I politely requested that I be able to speak with a sales manager/supervisor equivalent (or whatever title that would be in Rivianese ). I wanted to ask someone more likely to know why they can't find me an R1S demo vehicle when clearly more and more of them are trickling into the demo shop as the weeks go by, some of which had my ideal specs. I also wanted to review the hiccups of this purchase experience with someone whose job it is to lead a sales team—if I were a sales manager, I would want to hear about my experience thus far—especially since, at the outset, Luis made it clear that they are trying to get these sold before Q1-end. From what I can tell, there has been a lot of wasted time in this transaction, even with what seems to be the best of intentions on Luis' part.

I emailed Luis on Monday (3/18) because I hadn't heard from him after placing my third deposit, and the account portal page hadn't changed yet to indicate my match with the demo truck's VIN. He didn't respond. I called but didn't get through, so I decided to reserve a scheduled call in his calendar yesterday. Luis called promptly at the scheduled time, but with zero acknowledgment that 5 days had gone by since his last call wherein he indicated that I needed to act swiftly with my third deposit.

I'm motivated to buy this truck as soon as they will let me. I hope my experience is an exception, but I have my doubts unfortunately...

[email protected]
[/QUOTE]
Current situation in Virginia:

1. Demo order confirmed 3/18
2. Customer Service ticket opened given the statement on demo vehicles not being able to register in VA
3. I get a call from Sales rep this morning stating they cannot sell to me in VA but will check with manager on this use case, awaiting call back
4. I called VA DMV about registering and titling a demonstrator vehicle in VA and the response was "as long as it has 4 wheels and is drivable on VA roads, you can register it". She then proceeded to state that the only people who can make the statement about not being able to register in VA is a VA DMV employee
5. More to come....
6. 3/21 Rivian stated "I am able to confirm that you are not able to purchase and register a demo vehicle in the state of Virginia at this time. I appreciate your patience as I was waiting to receive confirmation."

I find this very odd, Virginia code allows demo vehicles to be sold as new, the DMV confirmed I can register a demo vehicle and Rivian even has the statement to Virginia owners in their Notice of Sale:

 

[onesoil]

My demo purchase process has gone pretty smoothly. However, I think I"m a pretty low-maintenance customer, just trusting the photos and vehicle details they've shared. You're buying a vehicle at a steep discount, so you just need to make that purchase based on the available information.

I purchased from their demo site on 3/11 and my truck pickup is scheduled for 3/30. It's been a pretty easy online process, but it's definitely a light touch from your "guide". However, I've been able to text with any needs and they usually get me an update or answer within a couple of hours. All-in-all, no complaints from me!

I'm glad to hear that. In spite of the length of my post and the frustration I'm communicating, I think I have actually been a low-maintenance customer, too. I did ask to see photos of the actual truck, but that was only because the vehicle page had been removed after I clicked "buy now," and in my haste to lock in my ideal spec, I hadn't noticed that the photos of the actual truck were at the end of the photo carousel after the generic images. Once they added the photos back, I made the deposit and signed the demo agreement within minutes. So far I've completed all necessary steps within minutes of them being available to me.

I have voiced a preference for an R1S if that were available, but that really shouldn't explain the lengthy process since I was clear that I was committed to the R1T I reserved unless an R1S meeting my specs happened to become available.

It's possible that my Sales Guide is making mistakes, but he has frequently referred to backend/internal issues/confusion with the demo vehicle program since it is a new offering to the public. Either way, this doesn't inspire confidence in their sales/fulfillment teams' ability to move inventory quickly and efficiently.

For the sake of brevity (believe it or not ), I left out some details about a few other people I have engaged with along the way in the past two weeks while trying to speed up this process. Everyone I have engaged with has been polite and courteous but, unfortunately, seemingly unable to do all that much to help make this sale happen quickly.

I bring these concerns up because I feel like they have a lot of room to improve their communication, transparency, and efficiency through the sales process. We all know Rivian needs to sell, sell, sell to survive, so I just hope they effectively pivot from a sale of scarce/desirable goods mindset to one that reflects their need to drive demand through the longer inventory position they are now in.

 

[gluz]

Quick update on the delivery of Demo R1T. This was my first Rivian purchase and overall I would say it was on par with my multiple Tesla purchases. Few kinks in the process but overall great mostly online experience. I made a mistake and assumed that the truck would have full spare as it had adventure package and 20 inch wheels. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the spare. Other than that, I am impressed with the paint quality after 5800 miles. I can’t find any paint imperfections that I would care about. Quality of paint is light years ahead of all Teslas I have owned. Truck looks brand new. I got lots to learn about the interface and driving dynamics but love the quality of everything.

 

[yourgrace]

Has anyone been able to by any adventure gear at the preorder pricing for their demo vehicles? Like the wall charger for $500, all weather mats for $175 and cross bars for $450.

 

[onesoil]

[email protected]

Current situation in Virginia:

1. Demo order confirmed 3/18
2. Customer Service ticket opened given the statement on demo vehicles not being able to register in VA
3. I get a call from Sales rep this morning stating they cannot sell to me in VA but will check with manager on this use case, awaiting call back
4. I called VA DMV about registering and titling a demonstrator vehicle in VA and the response was "as long as it has 4 wheels and is drivable on VA roads, you can register it". She then proceeded to state that the only people who can make the statement about not being able to register in VA is a VA DMV employee
5. More to come....

[/QUOTE]

Did they ever call back with word from a manager? I have yet to hear from a manager in over a week, in spite of making a few requests to my Sales Guide and the normal customer service line while I've waited. It is entirely possible that they are wrong about VA registration, so I hope you get somewhere with them.

Update on my demo purchase saga:

I thought my waiting was finally over, and was about to "Lock in" my "configuration" yesterday (I'll explain the quotes). The first (or second, depending on when I start counting) bungled deposit clearly had the price wrong at $87k (pic one). Now, 8 days after making my third deposit, it seems that the price is incorrect in the other direction—my portal is showing a purchase price of $62,057 ($70,557 is the price listed on the demo page for the truck I have reserved). The second photo was from midway through the 8 day wait, also with an incorrect price.

As much as I wanted to lock in the order at this price, I was concerned that the build shown still didn't reflect the actual vehicle I am purchasing, so before locking in what looks like a very discounted "generic" configuration (LA Silver, 21", BM interior), I reached out to my guide. He called me at 7:30 PM EST (again calling well after my preference, over 6 hours after I left a VM ).

I have asked my guide several times to confirm that it is okay to have this generic configuration on my portal. Each time he has told me that this is what I should be seeing, but the correct build/VIN is assigned to me on the back end. "No worries." He hasn't been sure when, if ever, the build specs will be accurately reflected in my portal. So when I (somewhat hesitantly) pointed out that now the price was $8500 less than the demo page indicated, and the configuration was still wrong, he told me he had to check with his team and get back to me... He pointed out that the $9443 discount was now correctly applied, but he wasn't sure why it was taking it off of the LAS/21"/BM build.

Has anyone who has successfully locked in one of these demo vehicles seen something like this? Did you end up paying exactly the price as stated on the demo page? I hope this level of disorganization and/or incompetence is limited to my purchase/sales guide... for Rivian's sake.

 

[yourgrace]

Current situation in Virginia:

1. Demo order confirmed 3/18
2. Customer Service ticket opened given the statement on demo vehicles not being able to register in VA
3. I get a call from Sales rep this morning stating they cannot sell to me in VA but will check with manager on this use case, awaiting call back
4. I called VA DMV about registering and titling a demonstrator vehicle in VA and the response was "as long as it has 4 wheels and is drivable on VA roads, you can register it". She then proceeded to state that the only people who can make the statement about not being able to register in VA is a VA DMV employee
5. More to come....

Did they ever call back with word from a manager? I have yet to hear from a manager in over a week, in spite of making a few requests to my Sales Guide and the normal customer service line while I've waited. It is entirely possible that they are wrong about VA registration, so I hope you get somewhere with them.

Update on my demo purchase saga:

I thought my waiting was finally over, and was about to "Lock in" my "configuration" yesterday (I'll explain the quotes). The first (or second, depending on when I start counting) bungled deposit clearly had the price wrong at $87k (pic one). Now, 8 days after making my third deposit, it seems that the price is incorrect in the other direction—my portal is showing a purchase price of $62,057 ($70,557 is the price listed on the demo page for the truck I have reserved). The second photo was from midway through the 8 day wait, also with an incorrect price.

As much as I wanted to lock in the order at this price, I was concerned that the build shown still didn't reflect the actual vehicle I am purchasing, so before locking in what looks like a very discounted "generic" configuration (LA Silver, 21", BM interior), I reached out to my guide. He called me at 7:30 PM EST (again calling well after my preference, over 6 hours after I left a VM ).

I have asked my guide several times to confirm that it is okay to have this generic configuration on my portal. Each time he has told me that this is what I should be seeing, but the correct build/VIN is assigned to me on the back end. "No worries." He hasn't been sure when, if ever, the build specs will be accurately reflected in my portal. So when I (somewhat hesitantly) pointed out that now the price was $8500 less than the demo page indicated, and the configuration was still wrong, he told me he had to check with his team and get back to me... He pointed out that the $9443 discount was now correctly applied, but he wasn't sure why it was taking it off of the LAS/21"/BM build.

Has anyone who has successfully locked in one of these demo vehicles seen something like this? Did you end up paying exactly the price as stated on the demo page? I hope this level of disorganization and/or incompetence is limited to my purchase/sales guide... for Rivian's sake.

[/QUOTE]

I have been told that the build show show up correctly in the portal. Ignore the generic config as it is a starter but eventually it should reflect price and real configuration matching to your VIN. I am still in same situation as you so would appreciate if someone else who was able to purchase a demo vehicle can chime in

 

[jbl911]

Eventually they correct the configuration and add the VIN. I reserved my demo 3/19, paid 3/20, delivery scheduled 3/21 (for 3/28).

 

[onesoil]

I have been told that the build show show up correctly in the portal. Ignore the generic config as it is a starter but eventually it should reflect price and real configuration matching to your VIN. I am still in same situation as you so would appreciate if someone else who was able to purchase a demo vehicle can chime in

That would be great if someone can confirm how that step works. How long has it been since you placed your "order" on the shopify site for your demo truck?

I ended up "locking in" the lower price that was showing on my portal earlier today because I got sick of waiting for my Internal Sales Guide to figure out what was going on, and because I figured what could it hurt to try to follow the steps I was prompted to follow... I got an email with the subject "It's time to begin the purchase process." (funny, I feel like I've been trying for weeks to do just that ), clicked the "Let's Go" link, and proceeded through several of the purchase tasks. This seemed like progress. But when I got to the Insurance step, the VIN I needed to provide proof of insurance for was wrong

I ended up talking to someone in customer service because I couldn't reach my sales guide. He confirmed that I was assigned to a new VIN for the generic LAS/BM/21" QM/Large pack and he couldn't see any record of "my" demo vehicle associated with my account. He assured me that he was going to communicate directly with my sales guide's manager, who he claims will be calling me by tomorrow at the latest. I'll believe that when I get the call.

As with all involved through this process, the CS agent was very nice and seemed genuinely hopeful that he could help get this process moving—I'm just feeling skeptical that they have the organizational structure to move these edge-case transactions smoothly.

 

[onesoil]

Eventually they correct the configuration and add the VIN. I reserved my demo 3/19, paid 3/20, delivery scheduled 3/21 (for 3/28).

That sounds smooth and easy! I hope my (coming on 3-week) mess of a purchasing experience is an exception.

 

[momo3605]

Is it correct that there are no R1S demos anymore?

 

[Simplejack]

Depends, saw 3 on there an hour ago, but they were picked up very fast

 

[onesoil]

Is it correct that there are no R1S demos anymore?

They seem to be trickling in. When I locked in my truck, there were 4 R1Ss that were already snapped up, and I kept missing the ones that came in (despite my best efforts to refresh the page very frequently so I could get an R1S, which was my preference). Good luck!

 

[Patrick87]

After scouring local-ish legacy dealerships for the last month or two, I pulled the trigger on a demo R1T this week.

I "bought" a truck in Brooklyn, NY (I'm around Knoxville, TN) with intentions of having it shipped to the Nashville, TN SC.

A guide reached out about 24 hours later and had me place the $1k down-payment as if I were buying a new one. Said trade in quote and financing would be done after that and even if I did not like the trade in valuation at that point I could not have my deposit refunded, unfortunately, and he recommended to have a back up option to sell my current truck (RAM 1500) to Carvana or a private party in that scenario. I thought that was odd, but followed his advice and got some different options on my trade in and financing in case Rivian's offers weren't agreeable.

I paid the $1k deposit and my guide was pretty quiet for the next day or two. During that period, I sent him an email to let him know that I would be camping next weekend and would need to make arrangements to pick up the vehicle sometime other than those days (last weekend in March).

He eventually replied back and said we have to finalize everything by the end of the month (Q1) or else I would "lose the discounted pricing". I thought that was odd he called it that, since the price is-what-it-is.

I told him in that case I would make arrangements to take a day off work to pick up the truck in Nashville.

Another day passed and he called me (around 6:30pm EST) and said he had unfortunate news: the trucks at the Brooklyn, NY SC could not be shipped to a different service center. Home delivery ($1k) isn't an option either. The only way to buy the truck would be to pick it up in Brooklyn prior to April 1st.

Given that Brooklyn, NY is 11.5 hours away with no time in my schedule in the next 2 weeks to make a 23 hour (round trip) road trip, I had to decline.

He told me to keep an eye on the demo shop and there's a "chance" the vehicle may pop back into inventory after April 1st and Brooklyn SC "might" change their policy after the end of the month. I almost wonder if this wasn't just some sort of push to boost sales before the end of the quarter, but I would think "a bird in hand beats two in the bush", IMO...

He initiated the refund of my $1k deposit within a few seconds of ending the phone call.

So, it was a disappointing experience for me after 4 days of truck appraisals, loan pre-approvals, etc. The truck was everything I wanted plus came with a couple extra upgrades that weren't necessities to me.

I even bought a new in box Rivian charger, circuit breaker, conduit and wire this week so I'd be ready for delivery. Lol

I'll be keeping a close eye on the demo shop for my preferred configuration (white or silver exterior, Ocean Coast, quad, 20" or 21" wheels, power tonneau) and hope to "try again" soon.

I hope others have a different experience! Just wanted to share how my "adventure " went.

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